08 January 2018 | Graham Fischer
The Victor Harbor Harness Racing Club is looking to develop the Lonsdale Sand & Metal Pace as a feature race on its New Year’s Day meeting.
Club president Lynton Bishop said his club was keen to build the profile of the event following this year’s win by South-East pacer Jumping Jolt.
The $2.30 equal favourite, Jumping Jolt was dashingly driven by teenager Kaela Hryhorec to score a 4-1/2 metre win from Just Seduce Me ($2.30 eq. fav) with The Big Show ($7.20), four metres away third.
Jumping Jolt, trained at Glencoe by Barry Finnis, came from gate 11, but with the horses in gates five and six on the front row both scratched, Hryhorec decided to go forward from mobile release.
Peter Medhurst, bred and part-owns the five-year-old with his wife Lesley, and said the decision to go forward was made only minutes before the race.
“Kaela said with no horses in front it made sense to go forward to try and control the race from outside the leader,” Medhurst said.
“He is a quick beginner from the mobile, so we said okay, and she drove him perfectly.”
Hryhorec sat back off Just Seduce Me which led, before putting pressure on 500 metres from the finish and Jumping Jolt proved too strong.
Mr Bishop said the club was delighted with the horses attracted for this year’s heats and final of the Lonsdale Sand & Metal Pace.
“Kelvin Amos, the owner of Lonsdale Sand & Metal, has been a strong supporter of the Victor Harbor club,” he said.
“Kelvin has turned up to help with a lot of work to improve the facility.
“He would bring whatever equipment was needed for the job we wanted and was here from dawn to dusk to get the work done.”
Mr Bishop said the club had recognized Mr Amos’ contribution by naming the club’s honour board in his honour.
“We managed to get Kelvin to the track for our meeting on Wednesday, December 27 so he was able to officially reveal the honour board.
“Now, we want to build the profile of the Lonsdale Sand & Metal Pace. It is our intention to run the heats at our meeting in December, with the final at the first meeting in January.
“We want to ensure the stakemoney is at a good level to encourage trainers from around the state to support our meetings.
“We are getting good support from the South-East trainer but can always do with more city trainers coming to our meetings.”
The next Victor Harbor meeting is their Cup day on Sunday, April 1
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
